Twenty teachers from one of China’s best high schools will visit Griswold High on Monday to learn about how Americans teach.

It will be the second time Chinese educators visit Griswold this year, part of the superintendent’s mission to bring an international edge to Griswold. Superintendent Paul Smith has traveled to China before, as superintendent in Bolton, when he took students, teachers and administrators on three separate trips.

“It’s important for any school at this time to make a global connection. Our students, whether they realize it or not, are global citizens,” he said this week about the November visit from two Chinese elementary school principals. “It makes the world feel a little bit smaller, and that country is going to a play a major role in their future.”

In November, principals from two elementary schools in China visited Griswold’s elementary and middle schools as part of a sister school agreement. The visit Monday is part of a weeklong visit to Connecticut for the Chinese educators run by the Connecticut Association of Schools. Twenty high school teachers from Jilin High School in Jilin Province arrived Sunday, Jan. 20, and have spent several days with educators all over the state and with legislators in Hartford. According to a schedule provided by Smith, the teachers’ visits have included sessions on the college selection and admission process, curriculum development and students’ extracurricular activities. But Monday in Griswold will be their first session including students.

Monday is the first of their in-school days, where they will observe classrooms in Griswold High School. Later in the day, students and administrators will hold a forum to answer the educators’ questions about American education and what they observed. They’ll also be treated to a performance by Griswold’s steel drum band.

Smith said he expects the visit to be enlightening for the Chinese educators. Based on what he’s seen of Chinese education from his visits, he said, it’s based primarily on memorizing, on rote- and test-based learning. Chinese educators who visited in the fall, he said, were “amazed at the focus on creativity and individuality, the collaboration and communication and focus on critical thinking in the classrooms.”

The next step in creating a true connection, Smith said, “is to host Chinese students and send our students there.” It’s an idea Smith said he’s been exploring, but for now is still in the exploration phase.